NOTES TO KNOW
• Kim Dameron enters his fifth season as the Eastern Illinois head coach as the Panthers open the 2018 season.  EIU was 6-5 overall last season, 5-3 in the OVC as they posted their third straight winning season.  It marked the first time since 2005-07 that EIU has had three or more straight winning seasons.

• Head coach Kim Dameron played at Arkansas under head coach Lou Holtz in the early 1980's.  He will be inducted into the Rogers (Ark.) High School Athletic Hall of Fame this fall.  Dameron appeared in four bowl games as a player for Arkansas.

• In addition to Dameron this will be a homecoming for seven players from the State of Arkansas as well as assistant coaches Keith Scott and Tony Turner (both Arkansas natives).  In addition EIU has three players from the Tulsa, Oklahoma area which is two hours away from Fayetteville.

• EIU has named two players that could take the opening snap at quarterback in the first game at Arkansas.  Johnathan Brantley and Harry Woodbery have both been listed as possible starters for EIU and head coach Kim Dameron has said that both will play. Brantley is a transfer from Tulane while Woodbery is a transfer from Navarro JC where he started last season for new offensive coordinator Scott Parr.

• Eastern Illinois head coach Kim Dameron brought in a new offensive coordinator this season in Navarro Junior College coach Scott Parr.  Parr has installed the "Air Raid" offense and his units ranked in the top ten in JUCO each of the last three seasons.  Parr worked at Texas Tech under head coach Tommy Tuberville and then OC Neal Brown (now head coach at Troy).

THE SERIES
• Eastern Illinois and Arkansas will be playing for the first time in school history. This will also be the first time that Eastern Illinois has played a school from the Southeastern Conference.   EIU is 0-1 against current SEC member Missouri but lost to the Tigers, 37-0, on Sept. 13, 2003 when Mizzou was still a member of the Big 12 Conference.